Random Update Post - US Trip!

Hi 7D!! <3

Been some time since I wrote =D

So, in December, I went to New York and California! ^_^ Just thought I'd share some photos, though there's not much of a story. Will let the picture speak for themselves.. with the aid of captions, perhaps.

This was taken at the 911 memorial. Mood was sombre. No kids playing and running around. Everybody looked solemn and not so much of a hint of smile anywhere. Maybe it was also because of the rain. We unwittingly took a picture of ourselves saying 'cheese' to the camera. Gosh.

Central Park =) It was so lovely just strolling through the park and taking in nature. Love the place.

Another very scenic place at Fisherman's Wharf!

Okay I seem to be just focusing on nature. Here's a bunch of flowers growing on Alcatraz Island. We hypothesised that it was where JK Rowling got her inspiration for Azkaban from =O 

A shot from the top of some hill in California, during the drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles. There were no railings in many of these places and so there's not much of a barrier between the good life and a spectacular death.

 
I am freezing less than 5 metres from Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) <3! GOT HIS SIGNATURE!!

And there was the magical Disneyland. Hahaha. Sadly, I felt a little old for the place and the queues for the rides were draining. So while waiting, I either got a tan (in the day) or froze over (at night). Love the weather at the west coast. But anyway, the thriller rides were FUN! Genting weekend trip, anyone?

That's all from me ;) Won't pass the baton. Whoever's interested, do post! Would love to hear from everyone and anyone.

Obligatory post

So here's what I have to do this week, and what I'm procrastinating with not doing right now - 1x research paper, 1x presentation, and read this stuff:

my attempt to revive the blog

hello guys :) I had once thought of sending out a default list of questions for pple to answer in the form of a blogpost on the class blog just so that everyone can kind of update each other on what's going on in their lives... but it didn't happen. haha. anw, I decided to just finally post something, hopefully this triggers something more =)


So it's my last semester here at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In the blink of an eye I'm already at the midpoint. once in a while I look ahead and I feel prepared to come back and make the transition into work, and once in a while I wish I can continue to remain a kid and just have fun here without the added responsibility of being financially independent. 


So many things have happened in the short span of a few months, and even more things have happened in the past four years of university life. It has been such a great time of learning for me. I haven't exactly been the most garang in terms of travelling the world, but I can say that I have done almost everything that I've wanted to do here, and I am satisfied with all the experiences I have had, and all the wonderful people I have gotten to know. I wouldn't add or take anything away from it all, both good and bad times, because I feel that they have shaped me so much. Some of the fond memories I'll leave with include my involvement with the Singapore Students Association here, my involvement with a Christian Fellowship and in leading a bible study among the Singaporeans, volunteering with the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen, meeting pple in alcohol rehab and working with them to build houses, singing a solo on stage for the first time in my life in my first semester, spending 3 years with my best friend from Nanyang, going to 6 Flags theme park twice, epic road trips to South Dakota and trips to New Orleans etc. This semester is my last and free-est, but it seems like the fun hasn't ended. I'm still having a ball of a time, spending so much more time with friends than I have ever done in the past few years here. 

a picture of the bunch of friends I got to be a part of this semester. A random monday night in my apartment with homemade sushi/sashimi. super epic.

It will be interesting to see how much we have all changed after all this while, and as we all transition into work. I, for one, hope I don't die too badly >< Other than that, I hope that I won't lose myself in that new phase of life, and that I'll remember to chill and take time to find myself when work gets a bit too much =)

Revive the Blog!

Yeah, the blog was hacked a while back it seems, the template got replaced by "This is anonymous" x infinity. Lucky I had a saved copy of the template, so now the whole blog is back and running!

In order to keep the blog alive, I shall offer a photo of Chia Ming + BF visiting Shirli and I in London. They were touring the UK after their overseas attachment.



Followed by the tried-and-tested filler photo of a cute animal, preferably a kitten.



Hope to hear from you guys what you are doing!

MAF 2011

Mrs Foo! And not forgetting, the all so elusive... Mr Lee!

Choo Choo Choo Part 1

In order to celebrate the graduation of Shirli and Wai Lumn and before the railway track closes (more of the latter :P), 7D goes on a trek from Rail Mall to Bukit Timah Railway Station.

The railway bridge that 67 always goes under.

Aaron poses

Jin Rong poses

Shirli hogs the camera, abetted by Jane

USA 2011

this photo is too hilarious to be missed!!! taken while kat showed me and my comrade around chicago. also met up with wailumn, calvin wong and a ton of other hwach / singaporeans there during my short 1-wk trip to USA =)

Class Outing!

i am terribly honoured that nik has arrowed me to plan the next class outing. it shall be in late july/early august when everyone is back and before school starts (for those of us who have yet to graduate)(congrats to those who have!! =D)

the destination: (unknown, please suggest)
the activity: (unknown , please suggest) + dinner + post dinner (unknown, please suggest)
time: 1.30pm (after lunch)

the blog is a tad stale; guess everyone has been caught up with work. hohum! hope that everyone has been having a great time no matter where you are =) life is sometimes a blur and some aspects of it may seem directionless at some point in time or another..


perhaps it looks better that way, with the colours of objects blending into each other; the picture appears more flawless when you don't look at the grainy imperfect bits. maybe all of us need such moments to make us realise that we need better lens and a better perspective.

Your domain name

06S7D.TK

Number of unique visitors per day

for: 16-February-2011

U.S.A.   52   62%   Singapore   18   21%   United Kingdom   6   7%   Japan   3   4%   Canada   1   1%   Lithuania   1   1%   Taiwan   1   1%   Poland   1   1%   Belgium   1   1%

I don't really know who on earth we know in Lithuania or Poland, but who knows?

www.06s7d.tk

Updates updates


The blog has a new url, look at the address bar! Don't worry, the original url (which everyone probably used =) still works. Both link to this.

Do make it a point to just come to this blog about once a week! (Yes, all of you) "The domain will expire after 90 days when less than twenty-five (25) users have been to your website." So do click here whenever you can! =)

• I increased the width of the template (to fit on all those large screens most people have); whoever doesn't like it, click "funny" below
• I added some advertisements (if you want a short ".tk" domain for yourself, do click on the ad on the right! It will help the 06s7d account earn referral points, and can offset for lack of visitors and stuff; whoever likes the new url, click "interesting" below
• I increased the font size in general, so we don't have to strain so much. Whoever prefers the smaller font, click "cool" below
• To the banner designer, a new banner would be cool. The new width is 1000px, and I think the imagemap coordinates are not lining up properly. Not sure about the code for <map>, if you can just modify the height and width directly?
• If you have any other suggestions, please comment!

Tech Jokes to Keep you Happy on Vday

In line with the recent technical upgrades of the blog by Ben, let's have some tech-related jokes for laughs!

Tech Support

Just in case you think you are TC (technologically challenged). The following is an excerpt taken from a Wall Street Journal article:

1.Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is.

2.AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.

3.Another Compaq technician received a call from a man complaining that the system wouldn't read word processing files from his old diskettes. After trouble-shooting for magnets and heat failed to diagnose the problem, it was found that the customer had labeled the diskettes, then
rolled them into the typewriter to type the labels.

4.Another AST customer was asked to send a copy of her defective diskettes. A few days later a letter arrived from the customer along with photocopies of the floppies.

5.A Dell technician advised his customer to put his troubled floppy back in the drive and close the door. The customer asked the tech to hold on, and was heard putting the phone down, getting up and crossing the room to close the door to his room.

6.Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key.

7.Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.

8.A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and an invalid". The tech explained that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid" responses shouldn't be taken personally.

9.A confused caller to IBM was having troubles printing documents. He told the technician that the computer had said it "couldn't find printer". The user had also tried turning the computer screen to face the printer - but that his computer still couldn't "see" the printer.

10.An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn't get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and
nothing happens." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.

11.Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand-new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked "What power switch?"

12.True story from a Novell NetWire SysOp:

Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support?"
Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?"
Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?"
Tech: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?"
Caller: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer."
Tech: "Please excuse me if I seem a bit stumped, It's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotional, at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?"
Caller: "It came with my computer, I don't know anything about a promotional. It just has '4X' on it." At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller, because he couldn't stand it. He was laughing too hard. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the drive!

13.Another IBM customer had troubles installing software and rang for support. "I put in the first disk, and that was OK. It said to put in the second disk, and had some problems with the disk. When it said to put in the third disk - I couldn't even fit it in..." The user hadn't realized
that "Insert Disk 2" meant to remove Disk 1 first.

14.In a similar incident, a customer had followed the instructions for installing software. The instructions said to remove the disk from it's cover and insert into the drive. The user had physically removed the casing of the disk and wondered why there were problems.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm reminiscing about secondary school and JC and I'm missing the "friendship day" thing too! The days when girls (and boys) would bake + bring flowers + make trinkets for all their friends!

I'm really really missing it! Anyway, I was in Vegas recently and remembered all of you gambling/playing bridge every day...

Alive

It's been 4 years since we graduated in 2007 (and my brain has obviously rotted a bit, as I took some time to figure out the year). Haven't been caring about the blog at all, but just today I was looking through every post right from the very start...

(links are listed in chronological order)

2006 Hall of fame

• STJ 2006
• CMD (pardon us Chia Ming)
• Just dropping by
• How to get your dream sabbatical
• Just for laughs by Kat
• Just for laughs III by Jin Rong
• More Just for laughs by Jin Rong
• Filler (thanks Nik for the ever-enjoyable fillers!)
• Filler 2 (no prizes if you can guess who wrote this)
• Camp
• Class T designs
• Class chalet (there are jokes at the bottom of this post)
• Story part I (5 word story anyone?)
• Another filler (we should have a Hall of famous fillers)
• Story part II
• Some entertainment by Jane
• Meanings of names
• Muffins by Cheryl
• Eye quiz I by Jaime
• Eye quiz II by Jaime
• Yet more Just for laughs by Jane
• Another joke by Aaron
• Thanksgiving by Shirli

That's all for the year of 2006. The links on the left <--- (archives with the huge 'a') serve to bring you down memory lane.

I'll go through 2007 and beyond another time!

PS. can someone make me moderator or just send me the template code pls? I want a copy to keep cos I lost mine in my computer...

PPS. here is a graph of the number of posts per month: (courtesy of http://imagecharteditor.appspot.com/)

(since this is a class blog contributed by ppl who did graphs before, can anyone explain the trend? [10])

Switch to posterous

I propose a switch to posterous blogging service (http://www.posterous.com).

It's easy to migrate, and even easier to post; just add everyone as a contributor, and from then on, everyone can just go to their email, type up a post to post@posterous.com, attach all photos and whatever rubbish you guys want to attach, and bam, it'll be up and showing on the blog.

Check out their FAQ, and all those in favour, say aye.

PS. I think the idea isn't really taking off with many. Another idea, how about we all chip together (about 10 USD per year) to purchase http://www.06s7d.com? Admittedly, there's no real purpose except to look cool.

Bratwurst

Hello everybody!

Here is a pic of my cousin Maximilliam, my brother and me. No prizes for guessing who's who (obviously i'm the most handsome)

He is half-german (!), works as a firefighter (!!!), has not visited S'pore in the past 10 years and is in town over these 2 weeks. He has lots of entertaining stories, which I realized after getting past staring at his biceps for 10min when I first saw him.

Niklas Wong, he puts you to shame :P maybe your intel will beats him la heheh.

Even more snow!

Yay shall post snow photos too! I'm still really in love with this place and haven't missed home yet hurhur.

291210

hello people!

i finally figured how to use my google account. yes i'm a freaking dinosaur.

Anyway here are the polaroid shots taken during our adventure to NEXX and Nik's house, courtesy of Jaime.


Marvel at this rare shot of liang en! (Most of) Aaron made it inside this shot too. Wonderful shot taken by me :P



Everybody who went! Jane would have been here to if not for some evil weather/kimchi in korea that made her sick. Don't worry Jane next time it will be at your house hehe.

Outing 16th dec

Hai, let me post my exceedingly detailed and well thought out plan for the 16th which will be undoubtedly great and none of you will have any better suggestions.

12pm meet at city hall
1pm Go for lunch after late comers arrive
2.30pm go bowl at marina square
3pm realise bowling is full and go for pool instead
5pm get tired of pool and go eat desserts
6pm eat dinner

Hesitate a lot in posting better suggestions!

~nik

more snow! :D

the snow was amazingly pretty today so i just decided to try to capture them on camera. don't think my camera skills were pro enough, so this will have to suffice.. or maybe some things are just meant for the eye to see and enjoy :)

for some reason the snow was chunky and the details were very obvious to the naked eye, unlike other days when the snowflakes are small and dissolve almost immediately/clump together.

<3

hope everyone else's doing fine. i know the people in singapore are alr done with exams right? :P i'm into my last week of the sem here already, one more exam paper to go. have fun and happy holidays everyone! 

SNOW!

FIRST SNOW OMFGWTFBBQ!

And the excitement runs out after 5 seconds. Hope you guys are having fun in Singapore. Because it is freezing in London. Ask Nik to organise class outings, I won't be back in December :P